I started doing some ideas for business cards the other day, but it was pretty difficult to start designing the visuals without a personal identity so I've started to think about what kind of identity I want. Here are just some quick ideas. I think I'd quite like to just use my name but turn it into some sort of illustrative type. At the moment I've just used one typeface and started to think about the shapes of the letters and how they relate to eachother. There's nothing here that I want to use but it's a good starting point for me to think about the shapes of the letters.

It was advised that in my portfolio I showed these icons at a bigger scale, but I wasn't really happy to do so because the dinosaur icon was bigger than the others and also the insect/wild life garden wasn't very clear. So I've slightly altered the designs so that I can show them in my portfolio. This now means that I need to re-do sections on the map/leaflets etc for my portfolio so I'm going to do that over the next couple of days before my meeting with Holmes-Wood.

YSP

I'm currently in the process of applying for an internship at yorkshire sculpture park. The internship would last for about 8 weeks and looks as though it will be focussed around way finding and printed materials. This would be a really good chance for me to explore this one area that I'm interested in and learn a bit more about designing for a particular place. I sent them my portfolio yesterday and Nina said she would get back to me either this week or next week when she knows more about the brief.

Also, got back in touch with Claire from NBD and she gave me a couple of really good quotations for my dissertation as well as the email address for one of the design studios I've been trying to get in touch with so I'm going to try that again later.

Meeting at Nick Bell Design - About NBD

One of the main reasons I wanted to talk to NBD was to try and understand how that area of design works. Looking at their portfolio a lot of the work displays design which reacts to structural features. I wanted to know how they went about working, whether they worked with architects/lighting specialists etc. So this is what I found out:

NBD are usually commissioned by exhibition designers such as Casson Mann. It's a very collaborative process, working alongside architects and the exhibition designers. Since a lot of the work they do is for spaces abroad it's not always feasible to visit the space but they work from plans and drawings of the space.

It's important when designing at such a large scale to test it. This means they need to print it at the designed size and put it up in their studio space and see how accessible it is. A lot of the design becomes about practicality and accessibility with all sorts of people visiting the exhibition, the design process becomes more about problem solving and testing things like readability/legibility rather than picking what looks nice.

Gaining Clients

Exhibition designers will usually approach NBD and ask whether they want to pitch together for a client. Because it's part of this cultural thing (can't remember the proper name at the moment) anyone worldwide can try and get the project. There are a couple of stages to the process:

First they have to submit a pqq, which is a type of questionnaire, alongside their portfolio.

From this 1-3 studios will be shortlisted.

If they get shortlisted they will then have a 'tender'. This is like a pitch.

At the tender is the first time the studios will put forward any proposals. NBD only propose 1 design direction at this.

Length of Projects

Currently the brief they are working on is for a permanent exhibition and the project will last for a year. During this time scale they will have deadlines for certain things and meetings with clients which help to keep the ball rolling. The deadlines are managed by the Project Manager and decided between NBD and their collaborative partners. i.e. the exhibition designers.

Research

NBD don't research the information needed but will research into visuals/images/videos and research enough to know how to approach the design.

Interactive Design

As well as architects there are other studios that deal with interactive environments in particular. Designing the space for the interactive area to exist within and the interactive elements themselves.

Production

As well as printing onto papers, they design a lot of signage and so for this need to use sign makers/printers.

Internships

Internships and placements are only offered to graduates with a degree in Graphic Design. In portfolios they like to see mainly typography. The ability to handle type is very important because what they do is like editorial but for a 3D space. They need to know that a designer can handle the large amount of information they need to layout. They don't necessarily need people who are strong illustrators because if they need an illustrator they will get a freelancer in. So it's good to see examples of spreads and other typography within the portfolio. This is something I need to address within my portfolio. Although I don't specifically want to be working with typography all the time, I think it's important to show that I can do it. As I already have a fair bit of image within my portfolio and I don't want to come across as an illustrator.

Meeting at Nick Bell Design - Portfolio Feedback

Portfolio Feedback

- I should have a page for the icons I designed for NHM, this way I can make them bigger and people will be able to see the detail. It also means that the thin strokes won't be a problem with the printer bleeding.

- It's useful to bring mock ups of work with the portfolio, such as the information leaflets, the map and the 2-tone packaging. When things have a tactile quality or the folding is important to the function of the design, it's a good idea to bring it with you. This also gives people an idea of scale.

- With the Blu Tack boards I should show lots of options with the grids, since the point of them is that they can be used to do all sorts of things, I should show lots of outcomes. Also If I have photos of people using them, include them because it shows the process.

There's a couple of things I want to change myself

- I want the images to be printed brighter, they came out a lot darker than I was hoping, and also not as sharp.

- I need to change the writing on the packaging page

- Possibly include one of the illustrations of the inventions for Ted Baker, as it would make it easier to talk about.

print portfolio update

Open publication - Free publishing - More portfolio

Holmes-Wood

Just managed to confirm my interview date with Holmes-Wood for the 30th June. So that should give me enough time after my portfolio meeting with Nick Bell Design to work on anything they pick up.

What do I want to know?

I've got a couple of meetings arranged now, and so I think I need to decide on what I want to talk to them about and what questions I need to be asking. At the moment I want to know:

How they work, how they design for a certain space, do they spend a lot of time in the space that's being designed for

How to they go about getting things produced, such as the signs/big boards etc

Do they collaborate with people who specialise in lighting, do they do that bit themselves

What they like to see in peoples portfolios,

How do they go about getting clients

How long do the projects go on for, how many of them are working on it

obviously I need to think of some more but that's where I'm at

Nick Bell Design

I sent Nick Bell Design my portfolio about a week ago and told them what I was interested in and that I wasn't looking for a job but it would be good to be able to talk to someone who was in this area of design. They got back to me today and invited me to take my portfolio down next week, and we could discuss their work. So I'm really looking forward to that.

What I like about Nick Bell Design is how dynamic it is. They really use the space to their advantage and it's structurally very interesting. The fact that they're printing onto all these different spaces makes the delivery of information quite exciting, and in parts it becomes a trail of information.

Feedback from portfolio

So far when sending my portfolio the feedback I have got hasn't been very specific. However, I got in touch with Bivouac and applied for an internship but I didn't get an interview. The said that they liked my stuff for the Natural History Museum, but that it would've been good to see some type and layout in my portfolio. Specifically working with a large amount of copy. Although I do have some work from type and layout that does this, I think I would rather spend some time producing something new for my portfolio. So that's something I intend to do over the next couple of weeks.

Barnbrook are a design company with some really nice exhibition/museum way finding. A lot of interesting shapes and graphics on every surface. When they got back to me they said that I needed to develop my own voice, and that I should work on this during the third year. I agree with this, I don't think my portfolio at the moment really reflects me and doesn't show my work at it's best.

Fred also suggested that it was time to put more stuff into my portfolio, so I've spent some time over the last few days re-printing things/re-photographing things to put into my portfolio. Rather than having any sort of 'identity' at the beginning I've chosen to have my CV there instead. This is mainly because I am unhappy with the identities I've tried and don't want to keep changing it until I'm happy with one. I've also changed the layout so that the text is now at the bottom, this allows me to have bigger images of the work.

I'm still not happy with how the Ted Baker brief is presented. I think what I might do is to actually make the machine in 3D and photograph it.

This is a project called decisions decision by Jamie Wieck, who works for airside. I think this is actually amazing, if you read it up close it's so funny. I'm thinking of doing a project soon to do with taxonomy, and documenting everything in my room ready for moving house. I thought it could be quite a funny way of telling those who are helping what's going where, in an information overload sort of way. If I do, then I'll probably get in touch with Jamie Wieck and see what he thinks.



This is the work of freelancer Matilda Saxow. The majority of her work is very editorial from what I can see. This book is for Jeckyl and Hyde, and although probably inpractical to read I though the structure of it was fantastic. Really playing with the key theme of the book.

Presentation Slides

Open publication - Free publishing - More presentation

An update on getting in touch with agencies

I'm currently still trying to get in touch with GTF and All of us. Since doing the NHM brief I feel more strongly that this is an area of design I want to investigate. Before when I sent them my portfolio there wasn;t really any work in there that was that appropriate to what they were doing. I emailed them my updated version of portfolio and so I'm going to wait a couple of days and then start phoning.
Nexus/Johnny Kelly - I emailed again a couple of times to find out about studio visits but to no joy. I'm not actually sure if I want to push this any further as I'm not sure it's something I want to pursue design wise
Bivouac - Sent them my portfolio and cv and they responded and said they would get back to me this week with an interview date
Rachel Oliver - I spoke to her at the beginning of the year and she was really helpful in discussing my work, I sent her some of the work I did for NHM and asked for some feedback on it. She'd suggested before that this was a possible area of design for me so I wanted to know what she thought. I also asked if she knew of any studios it might be worth me getting in touch with, hoping she has some contacts
Barnbrook - Sent them my portfolio on Friday to their jobs/placements email, they;ve specifically said not to call them so not sure how to handle that one
Nick Bell - Again, I have sent them my portfolio this week so am waiting back to hear from them

The most successful so far of my attempts is with Holmes-Wood. I sent them my portfolio last night and explained what I was interested in, and they've replied and asked me to meet them. So just waiting on dates, which is pretty good.

Update on website:

Main menu, this may eventually have some sort of introduction about my design on it




Sub menu - portfolio - I've tried to use coloured squared as overlays for buttons to brighten the page up without being too much




The Click part of the site, has all 8 videos uploaded which you can click through by selecting which page on the bottom right




Top 10 has the title sequence and then photographs of the packaging











I haven't got as much done as I would have liked to, but I intend to fill the site throughout summer

This is the work of Alex Robbins, I like the elegance and the detail that has gone into the work. I think this is a really interesting way to illustrate and the rest of the work is equally as playful. I think I might get in touch once my illustration portfolio is stronger and try and get some advice.



I love this 3D lettering. The designer is a london based freelancer called Kate Lyons. In her portfolio she seems to have a mix of very tactile work and then editorial work. It might be useful to get in touch with her and get some advice from her.

I've also been looking at http://www.nbstudio.com/
They work a lot with mixed media, their work is quite loud in personality.

A couple of pieces of design I found on design fetish blog. The earphone packaging I absolutely love. That whole idea of a product interacting with the packaging design is really interesting.

OUGD203 Evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

This module has been a massive learning curve for me in regards to new skills. Due to the nature of the brief and the deliverables specified it would have been too ambitious in the time allowed to try and produce many of my designs to the desired scale and still be able to explore and exploit the different opportunities within the brief. Because of this it was necessary for me to propose the majority of my designs, positioning software skills as a very important skill to have. Until this brief I had barely touched any software and was completely intimidated by the thought of using it. I have had to work through this and now feel that I can work within both Photoshop and Illustrator comfortably and produce the imagery I need to without having to compromise the visuals due to my own ability within the software. Aims I had at the beginning of the Natural History Museum brief were to strengthen my visualising skills and to be able to create design which has impact and clarity. Dealing with the delivery of information these skills have naturally come into play and so I'm pleased that I have had the chance to develop this way of designing.

What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

Dealing with a specific subject matter a lot of the research I did was based around collecting information about the Natural History Museum and it's contents through various sources. Other than that the main type of research I undertook was contextual research. Information graphics has always seemed like a very dry topic with not much scope for being creative, but I completely disagree with that now. The more I have researched it the more I have discovered that this area of design offers a real opportunity to think laterally and one set of information can be delivered in a whole array of ways.

Designing for a specific space was something that I hadn't really done on this scale before, and so it was important for me to actually visit these sorts of spaces so I could get a sense of atmosphere and it's structure. Photographing Leeds Uni and giving myself a real space to work with was an extremely important step. Otherwise I would have been 'designing blind' not knowing how to approach the design or how much impact was possible. I've really enjoyed the challenge of designing for an environment and so I think it will be useful to continue photographing interesting spaces/structures for future work.

My research suffered when it came to audience research, a lot of my designs were based on assumptions. I didn't make any attempt to ask people who had been to the Natural History Museum anything about their visit or anything about my designs. I think that the success of my work could have been furthered by asking people whether the new way I had categorised the museum made sense and whether it worked. For my information leaflet I devised a fold which made use of tabs either side of the leaflet. I spent a long time working out the structure for this and the interpolation but that time might have been spent better by actually doing some user testing to see how people unfolded the leaflet.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

Strengths that I have developed over this brief are the ability to visualise ideas. During the Ted Baker brief previously, I believe our idea and concept were strong but it became very difficult to communicate the actual idea. This became more apparent while putting together presentation boards and considering work for my portfolio. This is something that I had addressed before the NHM brief and so was determined to work on over the course of this latest brief.

One strength that has been noted by others that I hadn't really considered before was my ability to think spacially. I have always believed myself to have quite poor spacial awareness but I think that perhaps there is a difference between directional thinking and thinking in 3D. Considering how design works in combination with a 3D object or space is something I have touched on during my design practice on Level 05 and the print module on Level 06. I can now see that this is something I am able to do and want to use this skill more and really push it.

As already mentioned a skill that has improved this module is my ability to use software. I'm not sure whether it is actually a strength of mine but I don't consider it a weakness anymore either. I plan to continue to use this software to help my visualise my ideas in a more professional way.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

I really struggle with type and layout still. I was hoping that doing the type module that I would have improved more than I have. Although I can now apply the technical rules to things I am designing I still struggle coming up with layouts that aren't bland. To help improve this I intend to collect more examples of layout that I like so that I can refer back to examples and I'm not facing a 'blank canvas'. Presentation boards have been one of the most dreaded tasks of mine throughout the module purely because I don't know how to present my work in a concise way that makes sense. To try and combat this I've had to really rely on discussing it with other people. Using timetabled crits but also arranging crit sessions with one or two other students so that we can help each other produce work that makes sense. This has been a really good way to improve on my layout and I hope to continue to do this.

Up until now I considered my product photography to be of a high standard, but I now realise how much it needs improving. A lot of the documentation of my work is let down by poor product photography. When trying to use photographs for presentation boards or for my portfolio I was dissatisfied at how they looked and lacked a professional edge. Using the lighting available improved a lot of the shots, especially the colours but there are many things I need to improve until I'll be happy with my ability. For example the arrangement of products, angles of photography and the focus.

My knowledge of the print processes is still not satisfactory. I rarely test with different stocks and still haven't explored print finishes. At the end of my second year this is not a good position to be in and I am planning to use the time between now and September to correct this.

A professional finish to my work is still lacking. There are small mistakes on my presentation boards where I haven't corrected a photograph properly or not noticed that there is a line missing from my images. These oversights could have been stopped by going through things more thoroughly. Also one major problem I have encountered this brief is the difference in print quality between the laser printers and the ink jets printers. Sometimes the colours are preferable on the laser and then sometimes colours are more vibrant from the ink jet. This has been one of the things that has caused my product photography to be a lower quality than I wanted. The biggest problem I have had when it comes to printing is the amount the ink bleeds when using the ink jet printer. I did several tests using the laser printer to makesure everything was legible but when it came to printing my final maps the strokes on some of the icons almost completely disappeared because they were too thin. I was really disappointed with this, and if I had actually done a test print downstairs earlier on in the process this problem may have been resolved, and the same can be said for the printed photographs.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

The first 2 weeks of this brief I completely wasted because I didn't really know what I was doing. My brief was too vague when it came to deliverables and I'd chosen to do something that wasn't completely what I wanted to do or appropriate. Because of this, this had a real knock on to what I was able to produce for this brief. I needed to spend a lot of time developing the icons/maps as this defined my design direction. This then meant that I wasn't able to spend as much time exploiting the different things I could produce. By the time I got to designing stuff for screen I had thought about providing an audio guide service within the iPhone application which correlated with numbers for the areas. These numbers were just one thing that I could have started to think about if I hadn't wasted so much time to begin with.

Wasting this time initially also meant that when Graham was around the studio to help with design, I hadn't even began designing the type and layout for my information leaflets and so couldn't seek the advice with what I'd done that I desperately needed later on.

Another thing I need to do, as I have already discussed it to test print things. Not just on the laser printer but on the ink jet as well. I can then use these tests to make decisions on how to improve the design, whether I need to change imagery and what the best method of printing will be.

Looking at my deliverables there are a couple of things that have changed. Although I did begin designing information kiosks I never resolved these ideas into anything substantial that I was happy with and so didn't provide a solution. This was purely down to lack of time and indecisiveness. I only produced 1 of the 5 leaflets I had initially specified I would and just designed the covers for the others. This is because I spent far too much time coming up with a complex structure and also I really didn't enjoy doing the type and layout for the information leaflets. I didn't want to spend anymore time producing stuff that I didn't enjoy doing and not have time to start the way finding that was initially the whole point of me doing the brief.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas(5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor)Attendance: 4 Punctuality: 3, Motivation: 2-3, Commitment: at the beginning 1, at the end 5, Quantity of work produced: 4 , Quality of work produced: 4, Contribution to the group: 4.